Yellowcard

Florida quintet Yellowcard broke big on 2003’s Ocean Avenue. Songs like “Way Away” and “Only One” kept the band on the radio, in video games, and on awards-show stages for more than a year. You couldn’t escape Yellowcard. The group recorded a follow-up, Lights and Sounds. Then, singer Ryan Key’s voice busted on him. He went under the knife to fix it, and when Yellowcard resurfaced with last year’s Paper Walls, everything had changed. Returning to the punchy, upbeat songs that made them a buzz band in the first place, the album is all about what happens after the dust settles. “It’s ‘Here we are, this is everything we’ve been through, and where do we go from here?'” says Key. “It’s looking forward instead of looking backward.” That’s the notion behind Yellowcard’s current acoustic tour. With drummer Longineu Parsons III taking a leave of absence to care for a sick grandmother, the rest of the band is unplugging for a series of shows.